The Way You Fall Asleep
by coco anana
Summary: It happened just the way you fall asleep: slowly and then all at once. So one fine day they found themselves unexpectedly, impossibly, utterly and irrevocably in love with each other. Collection of one shots of moments in Adalind and Nick's journey to each other.
1. Chapter 1

I. Nightmares

Whimpers wake him up. In the first moments of awareness, Nick assumes it's Kelly being restless, but the sounds are too close for that. Next to him Adalind lets out a sob and mumbles something unintelligible.

"Adalind" He lightly touches her shoulder trying to rouse her but to not avail. This time he understands what she's mumbling: Diana and Kelly."Adalind, you need to wake up." He shakes her and she shoots up almost head butting him.

"Where? What?" it takes her a moment or two to take in her surroundings. He can tell the exact moment she understands where she is because her emotions retract behind a studied calm expression. Only her eyes betray her as they keep turning towards Kelly. There are tears streaks running down her pretty face.

"You were having a nightmare."

"Oh, I'm sorry I woke you." She untangles herself from the covers with a wan smile. "Go back to sleep." He watches her as she stands and walks with deceptively calm steps towards Kelly. He can see the tension on her slender shoulders. Only when she reaches the crib and caresses their son cheek does she seem to calm down.

She jumps when he touches her shoulder. "I'm sorry for giving you the nightmares."

She shakes her head. "It's my fault I lost her. I signed her away."

"What?"

"I thought you killed my mother and I wanted revenge and for that I needed my powers." She doesn't look at him. "A baby of Royal blood would get you many things with the right people. I thought that I could always trick them afterwards. Even when Stefania made me sign a contract in blood, I thought I had everything under control. I would use Stefania to get my powers back and the Royals to kill you and Stefania. As with most of my plans, it failed spectacularly." Kelly frowns, but as soon as she puts a hand on his back, he quiets down. There's a sad smile on her lips. "I wasn't even sure I wanted to keep her. I never really thought about it, but when Meisner handed her to me-the moment I had her in my arms-everything changed. I never felt like I needed anyone before, like nothing else mattered anymore." He squeezes her shoulder and she finally looks up at him. "Sometimes I think if only I've done things

differently, if Sean had told me what happened to my Mom, if I hadn't gone to Vienna, if I hadn't singed that contract, if I hadn't trusted Sean, if Sean had told me Diana was with your mother, if I hadn't called Viktor, but then..." She turns to look at Kelly again. "I wouldn't have Kelly. So even though I regret all the pain I caused to others and to myself, I wouldn't take anything back. Not if it meant loosing him."

"You shouldn't blame yourself" She scoffs at that. "I don't."

She turns with a start at that. "What?"

"Do you remember when I told you that if someone were to take something that was important to me, I would take it very personally?"

"Yeah" She nods.

"I can't blame you for wanting your powers back, I wanted mine back so badly I didn't really ask about the possible side effects. I didn't really want to know." There is something so liberating about being able to be absolutely honest, about not hiding even the darkest parts of himself. "I can't blame you for wanting revenge, I took mine on Kenneth. I enjoyed killing him." He lowers his hand from her shoulder to her hand. She turns her hand around and their fingers interlace. "And I can't blame you for doing whatever you had to to get Diana back because if someone were to take Kelly, I wouldn't stop until they were all dead. There's nothing I wouldn't do to protect our child." He looks down at the hands and wonders about the turns his life have taken. "I regret many things." Juliette's face flashes in his mind, the way she used to look at him with love and then with so much hate, and now with nothing but indifference as Eve. He remembers his mother coming back and how that's never going to happen again. "But I don't regret Kelly. I wouldn't take anything back if it meant loosing our son."


	2. Chapter 2

II. Worry

"Wait the guy got sued for stealing a wave?" Monroe rises both eyebrows. "No way, you have to be pulling my leg." 

Adalind laughs. "It's true, I swear. It was my first case when I was doing my internship in California. This surfer comes in and says that this other surfer is suing him over a wave and that he needs a lawyer because he is innocent and is gonna prove it." 

"How do you even own a wave to have it stolen?" Rosalie asks incredulously. 

"Well-Sorry." The ring of her cell interrupts what she was going to say. "Hey Nick." 

"Where are you? Are you and Kelly okay?" His voice sounds rough and his tone is urgent. 

"We're okay. We're at the store with Rosalie and Monroe." 

"Stay there. Don't leave their sight. We'll be there soon." 

His tone scares her. There are very few things that can really rattle Nick. "What's going on?" 

"I'll explain when I get there. Just stay." 

"We're not going anywhere." 

"What is it?" Rosalie asks as soon as she hangs up. 

"I don't know, but Nick sounded worried. He wants me and Kelly to stay with you guys until he gets here." 

"Worried about what?" 

"I don't know." 

Some minutes later they heard the door rattle and Monroe goes to open it. Nick's burst through the door before the Blutbat even finishes opening it. 

"Adalind! Kelly!" 

"We're here." She calls from the table and he turns and hops towards her. "What happened? What's wrong with your leg?" His take her in from head to toe and then go to Kelly who is sleeping next to her in his carry on chair. "Nick, we're okay. But you need to sit down and tell me what's going on." She takes him by the arm and he almost collapses on her. Monroe jumps in to help before Nick takes her down. Together they guide him to the small bed in the back of the shop. 

"We were on a case. It turned out to be Wessen related." 

"How fond are you of these pants?" There is a cut high on his tight that's bleeding. 

"What?"

"It doesn't matter." She grabs the ragged edges of tear in the pants and pulls. As the fabric tears away, she inhales sharply. Rosalie is at her side with her arms filled with bandages. She comes to an abrupt stop when she sees what she sees. "Please tell me you have periwinkle in the shop."

"Monroe, third shelf to the left, green powder, and bring St. John's wort too. Fourth shelf to the middle, yellow powder." Monroe runs to the other side of the shop.

"I told him to go to the hospital, but he wouldn't hear a word of it." Hank curses. "He's stubborn as a mule, you know."

She nods. "The hospital wouldn't have helped anyways." She takes the wet cloth and the bowl of water that Rosalie hands her.

"I'm fine." Stubborn doesn't even begin to describe her Grimm. "The victims were all mothers with their babies. She tortured them before she killed them and when she got me she showed me what-" He hisses when she touches around the wound with the wet cleaning cloth. The skin around it is an angry purple under the blood and there are dark tendrils coming out of it under his skin.

"I'm sorry, but I need to clean it."

"Adalind, she showed me you and Kelly dying, and I couldn't anything. I couldn't stop it." Once that wound is clean, she takes off his jacket and checks his arms and chest for more wounds.

"It wasn't real." She swears when she finds another wound on his left side. "Rosalie, how's that boiling coming?"

"I'm going as fast as I can." She fires quick fast orders to Monroe and Hank.

"She showed it to me as if I were her, as if I were killing you." He sounds groggy and his voice is as rough as when he just wakes up.

"It wasn't real. You would never hurt Kelly." She washes the second wound to get as much of the poison out. If there's one thing she is sure of in this world is that Nick would die before hurting or letting someone hurt their son.

"I know. I wouldn't hurt you either," she feels his fingers at her jaw and looks up at him flabbergasted, "not ever again." His eyes are kind and honest, and she can't remember anyone ever looking at her like that. "But it felt so real, I was sure she was showing me something she had already done."

"But it wasn't. We're okay and you're going to be okay." She turns her head dislodging his hand from her chin. Rosalie finally finishes and brings the poultice and a tea. Adalind takes the tea and makes him drink it. His five o'clock shadow is rough under her fingers. "And you're never going against a Tarant again without a full body armour. In fact, you should always wear one if you're going to be this reckless." She berates him while helping Rosalie dress and wrap the wounds. There is another one on his shoulder. Stupid Tarants with their six arms.

"Adalind, you know I wouldn't hurt you." One of his hands covers hers and there's that look in his eyes again. Ernest, sincere. She shallows the sudden lump in her throat and nods.


	3. Chapter 3

"A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews and the follows and the favourites :) You guys are all so kind, and I'm so glad you're liking my story.

III. Laughter

"So where are we going?" She asks when she gets Kelly off the car.

"Well, Kelly and I are going to the library." He takes first the diaper bag and then Kelly from her arms. "To this storytime you keep going on about." He smiles at her confused expression as he adjusts Kelly's carrier on his hips and shoulders so that it doesn't dig in into his skin while carrying their ever growing son. Kelly gurgles something, kicks his legs and points to his mom. "And you're going shopping for clothes, for yourself."

"I did. I bought clothes already."

"Two shirts and one pair of pants at ten dollars each? What does that make? A grand total of five tops, three pants and two cardigans?" She is cute when she sputters. "When I met you, you were walking around in Armani and probably had a whole closet full to burst of other designers."

"I'm not going to buy designer clothes on your credit card, Nick."

"I'm not saying bring home five pairs of Jimmy Choo heels." He grimaces just thinking about the cost. "But get yourself some clothes and more than weekend trip carry on bag worth of it. Maybe one of those pretty silk scarves you keep glancing at in that window." He points at the window display with his chin.

"I don't need it, and I really don't want to abuse or impose." He raises both eyebrows and she let's out a sight her eyes going to the window display with the scarves again. "Are you sure?"

"Adalind."

"Okay." She bends over and comes closer to say goodbye to Kelly with a kiss. "Okay, I'll see you soon Kel', Mommy is just going shopping. Be good to your dad, okay sweetie?" Kelly gives her a toothless smile in return. She waves before going into the mall.

"Okay, buddy. It's just you and me."

* * *

An hour and a half later, Nick is more than ready to call it a day. His arms actually ache of bouncing Kelly up and down in more songs that he even knew existed, and his ears are still ringing from a wailing two year old that threw a book at him.

"Nick?" He turns when hearing his name and almost loses his balance when that bags of books he is carrying swings around with him.

"Hey." Adalind looks at him with barely suppressed mirth.

"Doing some light reading?"

Nick grumbles. "Made the mistake of telling the librarian that I thought Kelly was a little young for books when she recommended one for him."

"Ahh."

"She looked at me as if I had told her I like to go around kicking puppies or something." He lowers the books to the ground to open the car door.

"And the-" She points to her face.

"Kelly was more interested in stamping than being stamped." He tries for a dignified tone, but it's hard for someone to take you seriously when your face is covered with panda bear stamps. Adalind lasts all of two seconds before bursting into laughter. "I tried to wash it off, but it's like a freaking tattoo." Kelly goos and coos happily at his mom's laughter.

Adalind manages to get her laughter under control, but her eyes are still shiny with mirth when she lowers her shopping bags to the ground and goes through her purse. "I might have something that will help."

"Mmm."

"Here." She grabs his chin with one hand and uses the other one to clean his cheek with a wet wipe of sorts. "We can't have the fearsome Grimm chasing down evil Wessen with cute little pandas all over his face, can we?" She bites her lower lip but the sides still curve into a smile.

He grumbles, but let's her clean him.

"There, you're back to your handsome scruffy self." She smells like vanilla and her hands are soft against his skin. His hand covers one of hers when she starts to pull them away. He doesn't know why he does it, maybe he just misses being touched or maybe it's just because it's Adalind touching him and she has always muddled his brain. Those pretty blue eyes look at him like a deer caught in the headlights, and he lets go of her hands.

"So you think I'm handsome, huh?" He needs to dissipate the tension, the charge in the air between them. He should know better by know; it's happening more and more often.

She rolls her eyes. "I'm not answering that." She turns to the car and opens the back door to put her shopping bags in. "I don't know about you, but I'm ready to go home."

"Yeah, let's go home."


	4. Chapter 4

IV. Resolution

"I'm surprised you called." Sean holds the door open for her like the good little prince he is. She resists the temptation of rolling her eyes when she has to twist sideways to not touch him when she steps into the unit.

"Well, when Rosalie said you are the one that took them here, I couldn't resist." Her tone is slightly biting but carefully calm and a little bit bored. It's the same tone she always used when negotiating deals with dangerous opponents. "You could've just given me the key, of course." She raises an eyebrow and looks at him pointedly.

"To a storage unit full of Hexenbeist stuff?" He steps closer and she has to crank her neck to look at his face. There was a time when she found their height difference sweet. He had made her feel dainty, delicate and protected. Now it just annoys her, and she is acutely aware that without her powers, he can easily overpower her. But she'll be dammed if she ever lets him know he intimidates her, so she shrugs and turns her back to him to look at her mother's things.

"Where is your son by the way?"

"Kelly is with Rosalie." It had taken more strength she knew she had to leave Kelly behind even if it was only for an hour or so, but she trusted Rosalie and Monroe more than she trusted Sean. She is never leaving any of her kids close to the half Zauberbeist ever again.

He snorts. "I can't believe you named him Kelly. Nick probably melted on the spot." He shakes his head and there is a small knowing smirk lurking on his lips. "I've said it before and I'll say it again, you're good."

"I named my son Kelly because that was his grandma's name, and she died protecting his sister. I actually liked her, you know." She grabs the photo of her mother and her she noticed the first time she was here. "Diana liked her too. Kelly Burkhardt was tough as nails and would have done anything to protect her son." Kelly Burkhardt wouldn't have deserted her son just because he wasn't a Grimm anymore. She wouldn't have called him useless. "How could you have given up our daughter?"

"I did I what I thought was best for her. It was the only way to keep her safe."

She laughs. "Nick and the rest of the white hats might believe you, but I know you. I kept going over it all in my head since Viktor put me in that dungeon, and it didn't made sense. I was half crazed when you took her, but I could see you making a deal with the Royals. The Queen was dead, so she wouldn't go after her husband's illegitimate granddaughter. And I could see you using Diana to gain favour with dear old dad. But double crossing them and giving our daughter to the Resistance? Knowing full well they will suspect you and you would loose their favour? No, it's not like you to tip your hand like that, and then you hired people to find her too." She shakes her head, her hands going from surface to surface collecting her mother's and Henrietta's books. She had to give it to Sean, even in the middle of dealing with a demonic possession he still had the wits to secure powerful tools and knowledge. "Nothing made sense, and then Nick told me what his mother said about Diana's powers, her destiny." She looked down at her pile of books. Leather bound and hand written, they contained the considerable depth of knowledge acquired by her family and Henrietta's family through generations. If there was a way to keep her powers away, it will be here. She'll just have to figure out a way to open them.

"I don't know what you're getting at."

"You were planning in giving our daughter to your mother, weren't you? So she could raise her to be even more powerful. Then you were going to use our daughter to gain power over the Royal families and put down the Resistance." She turns towards him with the books in her arms. The look that crosses his eyes before he hides behind his good guy facade tells her everything she needs to know. She got it right. "I won't let you use our daughter like you used me and like you use everyone around you."

"I love Diana."

"I know you love her, but you will use her all the same."

"And you wouldn't?"

"I never wanted power, Sean or the stupid keys and I never cared about Wesen politics. I always had personal reasons to do everything I did: revenge, loss, rage, desperation," she steps closer to him until she is a breath away from him looking up into his eyes, "and love. And now I've found something I care about more than anything else, even myself: my family. There is nothing I wouldn't do to protect them." Even from myself. She finishes in her mind. The books weight heavily on her arms when she turns around and walks out of the storage unit.

"Are you threatening me, Adalind?" His hand on her arm yanks her back a step or two.

"Should I?" She looks down at his hand and then drags her eyes slowly back to his eyes. "You once said that there will be a time when I would have to pick a side."

"And you said you picked mine a long time ago." She might have imagined it, but she thinks she can almost detect some hurt there in the back of his eyes. She scoffs at her fanciful thoughts. That's how she always ended up sucked into Sean Renard: she saw what she wanted to see and ignored every warning sign.

"And you betrayed me and abandoned me." It still hurts, and she wonders if it will ever stop hurting or if there will always be a little part of her that will always care about him. "I'm on Nick's side now and till the end. I don't know what your plans are for him exactly, but I won't let you hurt him." She twists her arm out of his hold and turns towards the door again.

"So Nick is your family then?" His voice is incredulous and full of disbelief. She can't exactly blame him. A Grimm and a Hexenbeist make strange bedfellows, quite literally in hers and Nick's case, but Sean should know better than anyone how strong her resolve is when she is committed to something. And she is committed-to keeping her children safe, to making whatever this thing is with Nick, to being better than she was.

"Yes." She meant what she told Rosalie, she wants what Rosalie has with Monroe: someone she can count on no matter what, and someone that can count on her matter what. "Yes, he is."


	5. Chapter 5

V. Suspicion

He is explaining their findings on their current case to Renard when he sees her through the captain's office window. She looks up as if she can feel his eyes on her. He nods and smiles a little.

"Is something wrong?" Renard sees her too.

"No, I'm just having lunch with her and Kelly."

"Oh." They go back to the case. When report is done, Nick goes to follow Hank out of the office, but Renard stops him.

"Nick, you should be careful with her." The tall man looks pointedly towards where Adalind is now talking to Hank. "You can't trust her."

"She is not how we thought she was." Now that they are actually getting to know each other, he finds he can't hate her like he used to. They are surprisingly alike. They have similar backgrounds, the same biting wit and impulsiveness. "She is a good mom and she is trying her best to be different than she was. We are both letting bygone be bygones."

"In all the years I have known her, Adalind have never let bygones be bygones. She takes everything personally and never forgets or forgives." Renard hand goes to where Adalind once scratched him and his focus seems to turn inward. Not for the first time Nick wonders about the history of those two. He'll have to ask Adalind about it one of these days.

"Well, she is trying." He frowns at the disbelieving look the captain gives him. He can't help by wonder how things would have turned up if Renard hadn't singed Adalind after him, his aunt Marie and Hank. Under different circumstances, you and I, we could have really had some fun. He pushes the memory away and the confusing feelings it stirs to focus back on Renard. "I don't think either of us could ever really forget or forgive all the damage we did to each other, but we are learning to move past it. She is actually not that bad to be around. She is funny, smart and makes great bolognese."

"Be careful, and don't underestimate her. Just because she doesn't have her powers, doesn't mean she can't be dangerous."

Nick snorts. "I knew that the first time I saw her, even before she woged." Nothing but trouble, was the first thing he thought when he saw her. "I don't underestimate how dangerous Adalind can be if she puts her mind into it." He makes his way to the door ready to end this particular conversation. "I just know she is not a danger to Kelly or me or our friends, for that matter." Which is more than he could say about Sean Renard, really. Nick is never quite sure where the exiled Prince loyalties really lie or how far he can really trust him.

"Everything alright?" Adalind frowns at Renard's office. He turns and sees Renard looking back at her through his window. There is something going on with those two, and he plans on getting every piece of information from her.

"Yeah, everything's okay."

"Dada!" Kelly exclaims while trying to escape his stroller. He smiles down at his son and kneels down so they're at the same level.

"Hey there, buddy."

"He is so big!" Hank laughs. "In no time at all, he'll be dropping by to ask for the car keys."

Adalind rolls her eyes but there is a proud smile on her lips. "Not for another fifteen years or so. He's just turning one in a couple of weeks."

"And he is already crawling and standing using the furniture. We had to baby proof everything at home." They'll probably have to move soon. He never thought they would last this long in the flat, but it's been almost a year now and they were outgrowing the place. Soon Kelly will need his own room, maybe a back yard where to run around, and where  
Nick could teach him to kick a ball. Maybe some swings for when they finally got Diana back. He looked up and saw Adalind smiling down at him and Kelly. It was such an affectionate look that he had to swallow a lump in his throat. Of course with the life they lived, that's just a pipe dream, but that isn't going to stop him from trying.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long to update. Life went a little crazy last week. 

V. Partners 

He looks up from what looks like crime photos when she takes down the steps from their room to where he is sitting in the kitchen.

"Hey, what are you doing up? It's late, you should go back to bed."

She raises an eyebrow at his worried tone. "Shouldn't I be the one saying that?"

He shrugs as if dismissing the idea that he might need sleep. She sighs and goes to the teakettle. "Is it a Wessen case?"

"I don't know. I think so, but when we took Monroe to sniff around-

She snorts at that and he gives her a look. "Sorry."

"He couldn't detect anything unusual."

"So why do you think it's Wessen?" She sets down two mugs of tea on the table and pulls a chair by his side.

"Well," he pauses and looks at her from the corner of his eye. "Adalind, are you sure you want to hear about this?"

"Talking about it might help. At least it used to help me when dealing with a case." It's strange now remembering that life. Cases, papers, laws and court dates; it almost seem like it was someone else's life. "Walk me through it."

"Okay. Jack Colton, 19, part of the rowing and swimming team at his college. He was found drowned at the lake."

"Okay."

"It was a clear day on the same lake he swam since he was a kid."

"Improbable, but not impossible."

"He was dressed in street clothes. CCTV cameras have him on campus at 10 AM and he was found ten minutes after that at a lake that is at least half and hour away from campus by car on a good day. So how did he get there?"

"What did Monroe said?"

"That if there was something Wessen, he couldn't smell it. The rain must have washed it all away." She remembers then that it had been raining all day.

"Where there marks around the lake?"

"Like drag marks?"

"Yeah, or animal marks, anything?"

"Actually," he shuffles through the crime scenes photos. "There was this." The photo he hands her shows some indentations on the ground filled with water. "Monroe said they looked like horse tracks."

"They are, in a way." He frowns at her cryptic answer. "The rain, the lake, the marks and the drowning, they fit an old story my GroBtante used to tell me."

"Your GroBtante?"

"My mother's aunt." She went on before he could ask about her. That's not a story she wanted to tell. "It sounds like a Bäckahäst, a brook horse. But they didn't usually attack people. They were more interested in playing music than anything else. They are also supposed to be extinct."

"Extinct? How does that even happen?" She knows the how occurs to him when a slight blush covers his cheek.

"They get their power from the water, and they are pretty weak away from it. From what I remember of the stories, they can't Woge without water."

"But if it were raining, they would be able to Woge."

"It's more than that. They can't keep human shape when they are around water."

"That probably made them easy pickings for Grimms."

"Not just Grimms, the council was not very fond of them either. When you're trying to hide the existence of Wessen, there is not much place for Wessen that can't control their Woge." She looked down and flipped through some of the pictures. "Jack probably saw a beautiful horse on campus and had the brilliant idea to ride it. The Bäckahäst got spooked and ran home."

"Where it drowned the kid." He frowned.

"I told you, Bäckahäst didn't usually attack humans. But once someone gets on its back, they can't let go. My GroBtante used to tell me that Bäckahäst were made by the Alfar to ride the currents between the Nine Worlds. If you fall in those current you will be lost between the worlds for all eternity, so they made it impossible to fall." He looks at her as if she suddenly grew another head and she resist the urge to roll her eyes. Really, did he think Rosalie and Monroe were the only two Wessen that new anything about the Wessen world. Just because she doesn't have her powers anymore, doesn't mean she is not Wessen. "But no one has seen one in hundred of years."

"Maybe they just went into hiding, but are now coming out." There is a dark frown on his handsome face. "Occultatum Libera"

"You're thinking it has something to do with Black Claw?" She tries to keep the fear and worry out of her voice, but she knows she is not successful when he takes one of her hands in his. Electricity shoots up from that point of contact to her entire body.

"I'll be careful."

She sips her chamomile tea, desperate to focus on anything else besides his hand in hers. She used the last bit left of the tea leaves in the tin to make both cups. She'll need to go grocery shopping soon. "Just whatever you do, don't get on his back. Actually, I might have something that might help with that. I'm sure Rosalie will have the ingredients for it."

"A spell?" He raises a eyebrow looking at her doubtfully. "To do what? Breathe under water?"

"Yep." She can feel herself grinning and tries to temper it down, but it feels so good to be useful. "It should allow you to talk to the Bäckahäst. They don't exactly speak English when they are in horse form."

"That's a very specific spell." He raises an eyebrow and looks her with his cops eyes. She looks away and tries to appear nonchalant.

"I wanted one, when I was a little girl."

She ventures a look back at him and sees his lips curved in a smile. "Like a pony?"

"Every little girl wants a pony. I just wanted one that could ride to different worlds."

"Of course." There is laughter in his voice. He drinks his tea and looks at her from the corner of his eye. She can feel there is something he wants to ask her. "Alfar? Nine Worlds?" That's not what she expected he would ask.

"Elves? The Nine Realms where Wessen are from? Any of these ringing any bells?"

He shakes his head. "I didn't grow up knowing I was a Grimm. Seeing you Woge was the first time I even had an idea that there was anything like Wessen."

"Wow." She tries to imagine what that would have been like: living a normal human life with no idea of what was out there to then suddenly being able to see Wessen and being shoved in the middle of a war. "But you were raised by your aunt. Who was a Grimm."

"She never said anything until she showed up when I started to see Wessen." He looks down at his mug. "At first I thought I was going crazy." He smiles ruefully. "I even chased down and tried to attack Monroe."

"Well, he did used to attack people before he discovered the calming magic of pilates."

Nick snorts. "Those days I was running around with no idea what the hell was going on. It's a wonder I didn't get killed or killed someone innocent. I still don't know what's going on or what is what most of time." He shakes his head. "Elves? Really?"

"Yeah. There is probably something in your family's books."

He groans. "Those books were hard to browse through and find anything even before Juliette burned down the trailer. Nowadays is practically impossible finding anything."

She looks sideways to him. "I could help with that." She continues before he can voice the protest she sees in his face. "I can create a database about the contents of the books, then eventually we could have them digitized." He states at her open-mouthed. "Don't look so flabbergasted. I'm a lawyer, a big part of what I do is looking through undecipherable text, make sense of it and organized it." She is also tired of sitting on her thumbs while there are things she could do to help him. "Besides I'm at Rosalie's most of the time anyways and it will give me something to do."

"You mean besides taking care of Kelly and the loft? You're not just sitting here doing nothing, you know?"

"I know, but I want to help. I can't exactly go out there chase down Wessen with you, but I can make sure you can find the information you need to catch them and keep yourself alive." His eyes soften and she looks away not ready to deal with what those green eyes make her feel. She clears her throat. "Besides it will be good practice for when I go back to work."

That makes him frown. "Isn't still a little too soon?"

She looks back to their room where Kelly is asleep in his crib. "It's not that I want to go back to work and long hours of reading and dealing with giant egos instead of being with Kelly. I actually kinda like the idea of being a stay at home mom, but I have two kids to put through college and my mother's tax evasion emptied my bank accounts of all my savings." She worries her bottom lip between her teeth and pushes the terrifying thought that she might never get to see Diana again.

Nick sighs, his eyes unreadable. "We'll need to find a daycare then." She is grateful that he doesn't bring up Diana missing status. Given with all their history, he is surprisingly kind to her and she hasn't known much kindness in her life.

"There is one at the office. Kelly won't be more than an elevator trip away from me all day." That's the first thing she checked. She doesn't think she could handle having Kelly farther away than that on a regular basis. Even then, she knows she will be a mess the first time dropping him off.

"Okay."

"To both?"

"Yeah, okay." He turns to look at Kelly too. "Not everybody with Grimm blood becomes a Grimm, you know? He might be a half Zauberbeist or a Grimm, something in between or just a regular kid." Panic threatens to overwhelm her at the thought of a Zauberbeist with a Grimm father, but there is nothing but warmth in his eyes and she relaxes. Nick will never hurt Kelly, no matter what crazy gene combination decides to make itself known. "But regardless, I want him to know about Wessen. I want him to be prepared and to know how to keep himself safe."

"Okay." She stands and pulls him up by their joined hands. "Now come to bed. It's late." She stops dragging him towards their room when what she says hits hers. "I- umm. That sounded differently in my head."

"Oh." He smiles down at her and she can just tell he is trying not to laugh. Insufferable man. She wants to kiss that smirk off his face, but she rolls her eyes instead. They are happening more often, these moments of an almost something between them, and it gets harder and harder to pull back. But if anything does get going with them, she wants it to be about them, not because they have a child together or they are lonely or sharing a bed. Besides Sean, she never cared much what a guy was thinking or feeling when they were with her, but with Nick, it mattered. A lot. And that more than anything scared the crap out of her.


End file.
